Fiber cutter



Nov. 12, 1940. 4

c. J. WESTIN FIBER CUTTER Filed July 16, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. CHARLES I WEST/N By 017%- w. M

ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 12, 1940 PATENT OFFICE FIBER CUTTER Charles]. Westin, Philadelphia, r, m a F. J. Stokes Machine Company, a corpm'ation of Pennsylvania Application July is, 1938, Serial N... 219,01:

- In Great Britain July 6, ms

6 Claims. (G. 164-48) Thisinv'ention relates to fiber cutters and particularly to cutting machines of the rotary cutter type used for cutting cotton sliver, wool staple, etc., into any desired length within the range of 6 the machine.

In the manufacture of yarns .many combinations or mixtures of fibers are used and the raw material may be selected from a variety 'of available kinds such as wools, cotton, silk, rayon, etc.,

10 depending on the product desired. For successful carding and spinning the various materials going into the mix ought to be of approximately the same fiber length. Nature, however, does not supply constant staple of wools in exactly 1 the same length every season and the locality and breed" of sheep has a .decided influence on the kind of wools available. In the use of available raw material adjustments. therefore, must be made when preparing the various staples m which must be done by cutting to suitable length. The better grades of cotton stapleusually come in lengths varying from 1%" to and the wool or other material such as silk and rayon to be mixed with it, must be prepared by cutting to approximately that length. The cotton staple, however, may come in lengths of 1%" or even considerably longer, and the cutter used in preparing the mix should, therefore, be conveniently adjustable to take care of any possible varia- 80 tion. A conveniently adjustable rotary cutter is also very desirable and useful in many other lines of manufacture of novelty goods such as imitation suede material used for clothing, shoes, etc. These manufacturers cut the cotton sliver or 88 rayon into very short lengths varying from a few thousandths up to A".

Heretofore, as far as I know, adjustment of the feed for different length of cuts required a new set of change gears or the combination of several sets of change gears, ratchets and pawls, in order to come somewhere near to the desired length. In some machines a series of sprockets with chains in varying lengths are in Tue-but all of these devices are unsatisfactory where a number 4lofvaryinglengthsmnstbetakencareof. In

somecuttersnowinuse.the'feedingissetby 'stepsthroughtheuseofaratchetandpawl and in order to increase the sensitivity or, in other words, obtain adiustments in small steps, pawis in multiples are used, but even at that, the adjustment is not always satisfactory andtosetthesteps aceuratelyisextremelydifficult. Another difilculty with the step-by-step feed arrangement is the ierky action which interfereswiththeaccuracyofthemacbine. It

also seriously aifects the speed at which the cut- 'ter may be run, and, therefore, holds down the production below that desired for a machine of this type.

Through my invention all of the above difll- 5 culties have been overcome and a simple, conveniently adjustable and very efiicient rotary cutter is provided. The operation is continuous so that the cutter may be operated at'maxlmum production emciency'. The feed, of course, is m continuous and adjustable by infinitely small steps within a definite range. It consists of the usual rotating cutter-head, with one or more cutting edges acting to shear the materialfed against the edge of a cooperating dead knife, the 15 feeding of the material being accomplished by a set of rolls yieldably pressed towards each other and continuously rotating at a suitable speed, the rate of speed being conveniently adjustable by means of a friction drive unit incorporated in no the'transmission supplyin the driving power. The invention also includes other new and novel features which will be apparent from the appended drawings. specification and claims.

Referringto the drawings! 25 Figure. 1 represents a front elevation of the machine with portions of the feed mechanism in sections;

Figure 2 represents a top view;

Figure 3 represents a side elevation, partly in sections and with parts broken away;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary view taken on line 4-4 ofi lgureiishowingthedetailsofthefriction drive for the feeding mechanism, and

Figure 5 is a side elevation showing the fricas tion drive unit with parts broken away.

In the embodiment selected to illustrate the principles of my invention as shown in the drawings, a rotary cutting head is shown at l I mountedonaframe Ilinbearingsli soastorotateao and cut any stock II which may be fed forward by the feed-frame If during the time interven- 1118 between the contact of the knives. Frame II issupportedontheupperendofbaseli. The feed mils 3i and SI of feed-frame I! move the 5 times that of the'slow speed.

in thelocation of friction wheel 20, as is shown in Figure 4, will affect the length depending on which way the wheel is moved. At the position indicated as 13 the minimum length of stock would be fed while if the wheel is moved to position I2, the maximum length of stock would feed. in over the knife to be cut.

The rotary cutter may consist of a rotating head 59, carrying one or more knives 53 and 59a. The rotatinghead 59 is mounted on shaft 40, journaled in bearings on frame I0 and rotated by means of a flywheel 50 mounted on shaft 49 and receiving power through belt 41 from a pulley 48 on prime mover 49. A gear 26 is mounted on the other end of shaft 40 and this transmits rotary motion to gear 29 (Figures 1 and 2). To gear 29 is attached a drive disk 30 and these two elements may be fastened as a unit to shaft 44 extending through bearings provided in base i 4 (Figure 1). The feed=frame l2 which carries the dead or fixed blade 60 consists of a housing 51 (Figure 3) mounted for sliding movement on frame ID in such a way that it may be adjusted with relation to its distance to cutter-head II by means of a pair of screws 51a and 511). By this adjustment of the housing 51, proper shearing action is obtained between the rotary cutter blades 5358a and the dead blade 63 carried by housing 51. Two feed rollers 35 and 36 are mounted on the feed housing 51, the lower 36 having bearings provided for it in the housing at 31, and the upper roll 35 is mounted on housing 51 in yieldable bearings 3|. The shaft 4| on which roller 36 is mounted extends through on both sides, having gear 42 attached to it on one side which transmits a rotary motion to the gear 36 and through it to shaft 39 on which the upper feed roller 35 is mounted, as is best seen in Figure 1. Feed roller 35, however, with its shaft 39, is supported in bearings 3i, each of which is provided on one side with an arm fulcrumed at 56 and on the other side with two lugs embracing opposite sides of threaded pin 32 and extending in under a spring 34 (Figure 3) which is pressed downagainst the lugs by means of the nut 33 carried by pin 32. Feed roller 35 through this arrangement can adjust itself to the thickness of stock moving between the two rolls and the tension on the stock is, therefore, maintaineduniform regardless of thickness. The prime mover may be of any suitable type and may be mounted in any convenient place; for example, I have shown an electric motor 49 mounted within the base I4 of the machine on a plate 63 fulcrumed at 69 and provided with belt tension adjustment through a screw and nut 19 adjustable in and out by means of handwheel Ii, Figure 3.

In Figures 2 and 3, a plurality of strands 53 are shown feeding through the rolls, each one being guided by an eyelet 54 or in any other convenient manner. The rotary motion of disk 30 is trans-, mitted through the pressure exerted by it on friction disk 20 pressing it against the driven. disk I6 which is attached to the lower roller shaft 4|. The left end of shaft 4i (Fig. 1) is Journaled in bearing i'l carried by bracket l9 secured to base i4. Shaft 44 (Figure l) on which drive disk 30 is mounted is so arranged that 'it'can slide endwise, and a spring 23 surrounding shaft 44 is arranged to continually press the drive disk 30 against the friction wheel 29 unless restrained by mear'is hereinafter described. As mentioned above, the position of friction disk 20 with relation to the driving disk 30 and the driven one I6, determines the length of stock fed through the cutter. In the drawings, I have shown one convenient way of adjusting the position of friction wheel but other ways embodying the principles herein described could readily be used. As a matter oi'illustration, wheel 26 (Figure 5) is free to rotate on a pin rigidly fastened by means of nut 16 onto the arm 15 of thimble 22 which is mounted for sliding movement on a rod l8 secured in bracket 24. On the opposite side, two lugs 11 and 18 extend out from the thimble and screw 23 passes through holes formed in these lugs with sufficient clearance to permit limited swinging of thimble.22 about rod i9. Confined between these lugs is a nut 2i, engaging screw 23 which is'free to rotate in bracket 24 but held from endwise movement. On the screw 23 is attached a hand-wheel 25 by means of which the screw can be turned so as to move the thimble 22, and with it friction disk 26, to either of the positions shown in Figure 4 or to any intermediate position that may be desired. It is evident from the construction indicated that the friction wheel 20 will be free to move between the two disks contacting it and thus adjust itself to any position imposed upon it by the spring 28 pressing drive disk 30 against 26, and, of course, as nothing restrains the arm 15, the wheel 20 is pressed against disk i6 and by means of the contact friction thus produced by spring 28 between the three drive members, the power of rotating the feed roll is transmitted from the cutter-head shaft 40 to lower feed roller 36. g

The operation of the machine is as follows:

Strands of material to be cut into staple are threaded through the eyelets 54 and in between the feed rollers and 36. Suitable tension is applied by means of spring 34 to furnish the necessary traction for a uniform and steady feeding through of the stock 53. With the cutter head rotating the stock will feed in over the dead knife 60 and the movement across the dead knife continues until knife 58 on the cutter ,head 59 contacts and shears off pieces of the strands as is indicated at 6| or 61, the sheared oif pieces dropping down and out through the chute 52. It will be evident from a study of the conditions in Figure 3 that the stock 53 presented over the dead knife 60 can be varied in length by increasing the speed of rotation, or decreasing the speed of rotation as the case might be, of the two feed rollers in relation to the speed of the cutter-head 59. The faster the rollers rotate the longer will be the piece of stock fed in between the time that the knife 53 and 58a contact and shear it off. The speed of the two feed rollers are, as explained above, controlled by the position of friction disk 20 and the relationship between the speeds of the two members concerned, that is, the rotating cutter head 59 and the two, feed rolls can, there- I ient means for the discontinuing or uncoupling of the feeding or the rotation'of the feed rollers is provided through the action of the hand operated cam 45 (Figure 1) on shaft 44. In thedriving position lever 62 would present the cam 45 as shown on Figure l and corresponding position of lever 62 would be as indicated at 63 in Figure 3. By pulling out on handle 66 attached to the link 65, lever 62 would take the position indicated at 64 with the cam faces 45a contacting the high points of cam a, Theresult of this cam action is to move shaft 44 endwise, pulling disk 30 away from friction wheel 20 and thus relieving the pressure imposed by spring 28 and eliminating all the friction necessary for transmitting the rotary motion. With all frictional pres sure eliminated disk 16 will stop and thus the movement of the stock is also stopped for permitting examinations or necessary changes in the arrangement of the strands 53.

What I claim is:

1. In a cutting machine, the combination of a base, a rotary cutter journaled upon said base and cooperating with a fixed blade mounted upon said base, a pair of feed rolls for feedi a strand of fibrous material to said fixed blade, a rotary disk driven in fixed speed relation with said rotary cutter, a second disk mounted on the shaft of one of said feed rolls and arranged in overlapping relation with the first disk, means for driving said second disk from the first disk including a friction wheel mounted between said disks and arranged for movement radially of said disks, one of said disks being mounted for axial movement, and means for shifting said movable disk axially thereof to interrupt the transmission of power to said feed rolls.

2. In a cutting machine, the combination of a base, a rotary cutter journaled upon said base and cooperating with a fixed blade mounted upon said base, a pair of feed rolls for feeding a strand of fibrous material to said fixed blade, a rotary disk driven in fixed speed relation with said rotary cutter, a second disk mounted on the shaft of one of said feed rolls, said disks being arranged in overlapping relation, a friction wheel mounted between said disks for driving the second disk from the first disk, means for shifting said friction wheel along a line joining the axes of said disks, one of said disks being mounted for axial movement, spring means for urging said movable disk into contact with said friction wheel and for maintaining said friction wheel in contact with the other disk, and means for at will shifting said movable disk against the action of said spring means to interrupt the transmission of power between said disks.

3. In combination, a power shaft having a disk mounted thereon, a driven shaft having a (use mounted thereon and arranged in overlapping relation with the disk on the power shaft, a frictio'n wheel interposed between said disks for driving the driven shaft from the power shaft, one of said disks being mounted for axial movement, spring means urging said movable disk into conand smoothly varied.

tact with said friction wheel and for maintaining said friction wheel in contact with the other disk, and means for at will shifting said movable disk against the action of said spring means for interrupting the transmission of power between 5 said power shaft and said driven shaft.

4. In combination, a power shaft mounted for axial movement and having a disk mounted thereon, a driven shaft arranged parallel with said power shaft and having a disk mounted thereon and arranged in overlapping relation with the disk on the power shaft, a. friction wheel interposed between said disks for transmitting power between said shafts, mountingmeans for said friction wheel including means for shifting said wheel along a line joining the axes of said shafts and permitting free movement of said wheel axially of said shafts, spring means for urging said power shaft axially thereof to maintain constant pressure on said friction wheel between said disks, and means for at will shifting said power shaft against the action of said spring means to interrupt the transmission of power between said shafts.

5. In a cutting machine, the combination of a 25 base, a rotary cutter mounted on a fixed axis on said base, a stationary blade cooperating with said rotary cutter and carried by a frame slidably supported on said base, means for adjusting said frame with respect to said rotary cutter to secure shearing operation between. said rotary cutter and said stationary blade,'means for feeding a strand of fibrous material to said stationary blade including a feed roller carried by said slidable frame, means for continuously rotating said of fibrous material to said fixed blade, a rotary disk driven, in fixedspeed relation with said ro- 4'5 tary cutter, a second disk mounted on the shaft of one of said feed rolls, said disks being arranged in overlapping relation so the periphery of one disk is adjacent the center of the other disks, a. friction wheel mounted between said disks for driving the second disk from the first disk, and means for shifting said friction wheel along a line joining the axes of said disks whereby the driving ratio between said disks is continuously CHARLES J. wns'rm. 

